"You should be bashed with a haggis for even suggesting it!" - Sal DeTraglia

Thursday, July 14, 2011

They're everywhere

Why is it always Palo Verde?

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio says his deputies arrested an illegal immigrant working inside the Palo Verde Nuclear Power Station, the nation's largest nuclear plant.

According to Arpaio, 32-year-old Cruz Loya Alvares was denied entrance at the facility's security checkpoint on Monday, when he was the driver of a work truck belonging to a private contractor doing work at Palo Verde. Security guards noticed the man's Mexican driver's license was expired. On Tuesday, Alvares was admitted to the plant as a passenger in a work truck, using an Arizona ID card. However, at a secondary checkpoint, Arpaio says further examination by authorities determined that the Arizona ID was falsified.

The sheriff says he doesn't know how long Alvares had been working inside Palo Verde, and whether Monday was the first time he had attempted to get in.

"To some extent," Arpaio says, "security at this nuclear power plant worked. But still, an illegal immigrant was permitted to gain access. This raises the question: how safe is Palo Verde really if an illegal alien can gain access to this nation's largest nuclear power facility?"

The sheriff says the incident brings into question the effectiveness of the security at other government facilities.

Arpaio says his deputies have been made aware of other incidents of illegal immigrants working in buildings containing various federal, state, and local government workplaces.